Companies don’t recall products unless they absolutely have to. So why are so many people ignoring recall warnings?

• Because recalls have become so common, consumers are experiencing “recall fatigue.” They either never get the recall message or they choose to ignore it. In the case of fresh food, the product has usually already been eaten by the time the recall is issued.
• When a product is recalled, it’s relatively easy to have retailers pull it off the shelves. But it’s much harder to track down each individual that’s purchased that item already to let them know.
• Costco, a member-based retailer, tracks each member’s purchases and calls them when one of the products they’ve purchased has been recalled.

Facts & Figures

• In 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Commission facilitated 465 recalls.
• 12% of Americans have eaten food they knew had been recalled.
• The government keeps an updated list of recalls at www.recalls.gov. Mobile versions of the site are in the works.

Best Quote

“The national recall system that’s in place now just doesn’t work. We call it the Chicken Little syndrome. If you keep shouting at the wind — ‘The sky is falling! The sky is falling!’ — people literally become immune to the message.” – Craig Wilson, Assistant Vice President for Quality Assurance and Food Safety at Costco

Tags: Costco, product safety, recall